Alex Bregman's moment foiled by Andrew Benintendi

Houston Astros Alex Bregman (2) hits a line drive off of Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel (46) that is caught on a diving catch by Boston Red Sox Andrew Benintendi (16) to end Game 4 of the American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, in Houston.

Photo: Karen Warren/Staff photographer

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and at the crack of Alex Bregman's bat late Wednesday night, Carlos Correa lowered his head between second and third base and had visions of a tie game with the infield dirt churning under his spikes.

"I was just trying to score and then I just heard the fans go, 'Ahhh,'" Correa recalled.

It wasn't the good kind of "Ahhh" for the Astros, as Boston Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi dove for the ball and snagged it inches above the Minute Maid Park grass.

"At that point, I realized that he had caught it," Correa said of the collective "ahhh" and the final out of the Astros' 8-6 loss to the Red Sox in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

The last-grasp situation was ideal for Astros manager AJ Hinch's lineup switch that moved Bregman to leadoff hitter, in the hopes of mixing things up a bit and perhaps tying the series at two wins each. Instead the Astros trail 3-1 with Thursday night's final of three consecutive games at Minute Maid to come.

"There's only one way to respond – we have to win," Astros right fielder Josh Reddick said. "Then we have to go to Boston and win two."

Bregman, the Astros' most clutch player this season, stepped to the plate with Reddick on third, Correa on second and Tony Kemp on first. Bregman lined the first pitch from Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel into left, and Benintendi made the spectacular grab.

"If that gets by him it's trouble," Astros catcher Brian McCann said. "Hats off to him, he made a great play."

Hinch's hunch paid off in having Bregman at the plate in that situation – but it didn't overall.

Bregman, who quickly left the Astros clubhouse after the game without answering questions from the media, failed to get a hit in five at-bats, although Kimbrel hit him with a pitch in the eighth inning and he later scored.

The rest of the Astros collected 13 hits, including three by George Springer, who moved from the leadoff slot to second in the lineup. Springer said the Astros don't need to panic down 3-1 in the series.

"We came back against New York last year," he said of last year's 3-2 deficit in the ALCS. "This is all hands on deck. You have to be in every pitch, you have to play as hard as you possibly can, and at the end of the day, you let the chips fall where they may."

Added Correa, "We've been behind before. This is what we live for. This is why we play 162 every single year. We're confident going out there (Thursday). We know we have a great team, and I feel like we're playing really good baseball, they're just outplaying us a little bit, a couple of more runs here and there.

"But at the end of the day, when Justin Verlander is on the mound, we feel like we're going to win the game."

The Astros left 13 runners on base with the revamped lineup on Wednesday, which wasn't what Hinch had in mind when moving Bregman to leadoff.

"It's a different look for our lineup – he gets the most at-bats," Hinch said of why he made the move. "(And now) he has Springer behind him."

And now the Astros have their backs to the Minute Maid walls, no matter their lineup on Thursday night. McCann said they're undeterred with the predicament.

"Justin Verlander on (Thursday), then Gerrit Cole and Dallas Keuchel," McCann said. "We're going to come out here (Thursday), and we're going to be ready to play."

Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle and chron.com covering Texas A&M athletics. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball.

Brent is the author of four published books about Texas A&M, three related to A&M athletics. He’s a four-time winner of APSE National Top 10 writing awards for the San Antonio Express-News, including a second-place finish for breaking the Dennis Franchione “secret newsletter” scandal in 2007.

His coverage of Texas A&M’s move to the SEC from the Big 12 also netted a third-place finish nationally in 2012. Brent met his wife, KBTX-TV news anchor Crystal Galny, in the Dixie Chicken before an A&M-Texas Tech football game in 2002, and the couple has three children: Will, Zoe and Brady.